Learning From the Ground Up by Abigail
Abigailof Salem's entry into Varsity Tutor's August 2017 scholarship contest
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Learning From the Ground Up by Abigail - August 2017 Scholarship Essay
If I were a college professor, free to teach a class about whatever I liked, I would conduct a course in Children’s literature. While I recognize the incredible value in Shakespeare, Tolstoy and Bronte, I hold a firm belief that some of the most important literature of our society lives in the colorful children’s section of the public library. There is great value in reading and analyzing children’s literature and its relevance in society at a collegiate level because, despite the target audience, much of children’s literature is poignant, influential, and timeless.
A great deal of children’s literature illustrates insights and themes that are as profound as high level texts, distilled to their most pure and simplistic state. We often forget how poignant well-crafted children’s literature can be when read from an older perspective; in the same way that we forget how wise children can be. The Golden Compass, Peter Pan, A Wrinkle in Time-- these enduring works delve into the minds of children to explore concepts that adults and intellectuals of all ages still struggle to understand. However, in these works, topics such as love, betrayal, mental illness, skepticism, and divergence are approached with the straightforward candor of a child. Good children’s literature treats its readers with dignity, and presents these themes without the superfluous embellishments that sometimes clutter more “sophisticated” literature.
Additionally, much of the literature intended for children will turn out to be more influential to society than the most cutting edge academia. The ideas that we put in the hands of children as they are learning to think and understand the world around them are the ideas that they will internalize as they grow into the adults who shape that world. It is through stories that we learn best, and the stories that we hear when we are young impart the most deep rooted morals we carry throughout our life. As a result, the analysis of this literature is imperative to the understanding of any given society.
Children’s literature invariably centers around a coming of age journey that is meant to be relatable to children, but the reality is that if a book is well written, it will speak to people of any age. Through every stage of life, people continue coming of age, because, in truth, our identities, and the way we see ourselves interacting with the world, never truly solidifies or stagnates. Preteens reading a Madeleine L’Engle book identify with the sentience and empowerment of the Charles Wallace; young adults resonate with Meg as she grapples with complexities of the fallible and imperfect nature of humanity; adults explore the philosophy straddling science and religion, and the reality of conformity, denial and hubris as true forces of evil in the world.
As we venture into adulthood, we tend to fall prey to the illusion that we leave our childhood in the past. My hope is that with this class, students will regain an appreciation of the power of storytelling to mold a society from the ground up.